Lizalee

Oh you echo my thoughts. Its been nearly 4 years for me...the first year was easy. But it's been tough since then. It is so easy to slip into bad habits, and so hard to get back in the zone to stay healthy and re-re-loose those pounds that creep back on. Now I'm up 60 pounds from where I want to be, and can't seem to get back into the healthy diet groove! Each day I think tomorrow will be the day I start ...and then the next yummy thing gets me off track!

Congrats! And doesn't it feel good!! You've stuck with it too...after 2 years! You give me hope I can get back into loosing mode again and get back to at least where I was a year after banding! Enjoy it and never go back!

Gwen, Best of luck with your procedure!! Hope it gives you relief of the symptoms (makes total sense - it's called referred pain). Nice to hear I'm not alone with having to struggle to stay on the "straight and narrow" regarding eating habits! Enjoy your new bander status...the feeling full after on ounce is a wonderful feeling! Enjoy! (once you get past the pain, the bloating, etc).

Congratulations to all you losers! It's quite a milestone to reach. All I can say is...keep with it! I was there, and now I'm starting over again...have to get back to over 100 lost...I gained a bunch back again because I quit following the rules and went back to old eating habits (cookies and ice cream, and other bad foods, often go down easier than protein! Junk food is poison! Never give up! Keep at it!

Yeah, Wow. All I can say is...enjoy that full feeling. I wish I could get back there. I was like you for the first year...did great, enjoying my new life, followed all the rules, etc. BUT. You can to stay with it or you'll end up like me. I never thought I'd be in this position again...but here I am. It's not like I didn't beat myself up every day about it...but I guess old habits die hard - it's an addiction and it never really goes away. I know there are people who totally turn their lives around - like Indio! But, I guess I'm not that strong....and have a totally inappropriate ability to be in denial! (I've had lots of strong talks with myself! But my other half has been winning the conversation! I lack that strength to get past the impulsive carb craving - on a long term basis. Where do you long term 'losers' get the willpower? I am trying, again, one day at a time. I've done OK x 2 days. That's good for me! Coming back here was the first step to getting my head on straight again.

Hi everybody. It's been a 1 1/2 years since I logged on. Just wanted to say Hi, and if anybody has any advice on starting over...I need some coaching! I have succumbed to carbohydrate craving, and managed to gain 60 pounds back from what I lost after my 2008 banding! Its not the band's fault. While I could perhaps use a little fill, I've learned to eat around it. How to I start over and get back into the healthy eating and losing again? Every day I start with good intentions...and then overeat. Now I'm full blown carb addicted again...and I hate what I'm doing to myself! But can't seem to take control.... Anybody been there and found their way back?

Hi April Avengers. It's been 1 1/2 years since I visited this forum. Like some of the others who've posted, I'm struggling. I finally came back here to try and regain my resolve and get advice! After getting below 200...and feeling great...I have totally fallen off the wagon. Carbs are my addiction, and I've gained 60 pounds!!! So my question is, for anybody still out there, HOW do you get back to where we were in 2008 - dieting - yes, dieting - following the band rules, eating healthy and losing weight? I can't seem to get past the carb craving! I was doing well for the first year, but then, my old habits were rearing their ugly head and I started on the path to where I am now. Its a daily struggle. Every night I resolve to stop...every day I can't stop eating. It's not the band's fault - its there telling me to stop, but I've learned just wait a couple minutes, and then I can eat more. And the really toxic stuff just slides on through. So, has anybody conquered this carb addiction?

Hi Everybody, I was catching up on posts and wanted to say Hi! The grass here in WIs is finally turning green and the daffodils and tulips are FINALLY coming up! We stopped at our old house today, and picked up some perennials that I had dug/sunk into pots last fall before we moved. It was fun to see my old gardens again - I miss my flowers (I had a lot of them over the years - my favorite was a patch of bloodroot that is blooming right now...happy to see my cuttings were still alive!) Now I've got stuff to plant here at the new place, and I feels SO good to be back in the dirt again. I had all but given up gardening in recent years, due to two reasons: 1 being that I was always gone with the girls to their boarding stable and 2. I couldn't bend over or squat to weed or plant without nearly passing out! It's so cool to be able to kneel down and weed and bend over and plant! It's amazing - I didn't realize how much I missed this kind of thing! And now that the beasts are home, the girls can ride while I weed.(not much of a trade off, but they do let me ride their horses now AFTER they have them tired out and "safe" for old mom. ) We are putting in an outdoor riding arena in the next few weeks, and I'm excited to see the girls really work them and ride myself a bit more. They want to show in dressage and cross country in the new couple months, and need to start getting them in shape again. I had a half-cc removed from my band a week ago. It's amazing how that tiny bit of fluid makes such a difference. I was having so much PB's and uncomfortable so often - I just didn't want to keep living like that, especially with fresh veggies from the garden coming soon. Also, made it more desirable to fill up on ice cream and cookies 'cuz they didn't get stuck. Unfortunately, I can eat mroe now --- it's like freedom again. However, I have been making a point of eating healither and making better choices. I have lost a couple pounds and am delighted about it! I'm back below where I left off before Christmas, and with the extra physical activity, loosing weight slowly but surely. This new lifestyle sure beats weighing 339 pounds anyday!!! Those of you just starting out - wishing you the joys I discovered by finally being able to loose this weight! Enjoy!

Good morning everyone. It's finally a beautiful spring day here in Wisconsin. We even have some green grass sprouting! It seemed like it would never come. Mis Leanne - read your posts a few pages back, and it really struck home with me. I did great until last Christmas, when I moved and my lifestyle changed. I had a small fill in November and it was too much I think. I started eating junk food over the holidays and couldn't stop. When I tried to eat more healthy foods - lean meats and vegetables, they'd easily get stuck. This went on until recently. My band has been getting 'tighter' and I've had more PB's. So on Monday I have an apt to see surgeon and get a little unfill - hopefully that will allow me to eat more good food choices and I will have to do my part and skip the junk food. I'm optomistic! Butyour post on stretching the stomach and espophagus is a good incentive to me to take care of my band and organs! That's exactily what I'm afraid of - I think I"ve stretched my pouch, and the constant pressure of cramming food in my esophagus I have done (which results in vomiting;PB's) can't be good. Thanks for sharing. I didn't have those problems before my last fill, so I"m hoping by going back a bit I can get back into the groove. I have done good this past week, and lost back the few pounds that I had gained over the past 5 months. With Spring here, I am able to get out more. Spent a few hours yesterday reclaiming an old flower garden area from the weeks that the previous owner had neglected. (They put landscaping fabric down, and then mulch. But the field weeds have reclaimed, and now it's 10X the work to rip that fabric out underneath!) Oregondaisy: good luck with your surgery. When is it? I know that you have throught this through and it's the right decision for you. I sometimes wonder if that wouldn't have been a better choice for me. However, for me, cutting away tissue is non-reversable, so if things go bad, you can't go back like you can with the band. In my job, I deal with medical cases that go bad, so that's just toooo scarey for me! Who knows? Maybe I will be in your shoes several years from now. I have a new shortterm goal - and I'm 4 pounds closer now- only 36 pounds to go! That makes me happy. Spring is a new beginning for the plants outside - and I feel like it's a new start for me too. Elayne - FINALLY you're a banster! Persistence does pay off! Congratulations and welcome to bandland! Orea - I read way back you have had appendix surgery and have been through quite an oreal. Hope things are going well! Well, I'm off to watch the girls ride and pull out some more landscape fabric. DH is going to finish rototilling the veggie garden (hasn't been cared for in several years - completely overgrown and quite a job to get it tilled up). Gonna be a very busy day! Happy Spring.

Hi old friends and new ones. Today is my 1 year bandiversary! I just had to put up with the slow internet dial up service tonight that keeps me off this site most days, and say HI! The last time I posted, a couple months ago- I was struggling to get back on track. Unfortunately, I just haven't done that. In fact, gasp, I've gained about 3 or 4 pounds. But, today, once again, I'm starting over. I'm seeing my surgeon next week and getting an little unfill. I kept thinking that time would loosen things up - but since my last fill in November, I've been having problems with PB's, and getting food stuck. It's getting worse, which I'm sure is irritation of the tissues. I was afraid to get an unfill - thought that keeping it tight would help me loose weight. But the oopposite has been true. Restrospectively, I can see that the past 4 months have been getting worse, and being too tight might be part of the problem. I agree wholeheartedly with the post above - logging food daily, keeping in touch, and exercise are the keys. Since we moved, I've been unable to keep on this site and log my food the way I had been. Dial up internet is a big factor -- it takes a full minute for pages to load, etc., and I've been busier now being on the farm/taking care of the horses and driving longer to get home, etc. Also working longer hours because work has been so very busy. There just isn't the time to spend on this web site. :-( When it's decent outside, I liek to go out instead of sitting here typing. I'm hoping that the unfill will help me eat healthier foods, since the slider foods I've been eating (and craving) go down easy, but the meats, vegetables, fruits and low-cal foods get stuck way too easily. I wanted restriction - but think that its just a little too much. I'm planing a big veggie garden this year, and want to be able to enjoy the fresh produce. Right now, I can eat cooked carrots, but things like fresh asparagus, sugar snap peas, even beans or broccoli are too fibrous and get stuck. Meats have to be really tender. Some mornings I can't get water down easily. So, we'll see if this helps. Ulitmately, It's up to me to make better choices and get back on track. It's a battle -- I am a stress eater, and eating sweets (or anything) is my self-comfort. While life at home is great, work is stressful and I find the busier I am, and the more the work piles up on my desk, the more I just want to fill my face. I know this, but play the mind games and always rationalize it "one more time." As many people have said over the past year + that I was on this site, it's a daily battle and we just have to keep with it. I've been fighting against my band, and it does it's job only as long as I do my job. Having complained about my struggles over the past 5 month, I have to say that I'm happier than ever otherwise. Even though I've not met my goal and finished my journey YET, life has changed SO much in the past year, and I can hardly remember how awful I felt when I weighed nearly 340 pounds! Each morning I carry two jugs of about 6 gallons each out to the barn for the horses. They are HEAVY! And each time I do it, I think to myself - I carried more than this every step of every day. No wonder I always was tired! No wonder I could never imagine exercising! NO wonder taking the stair was a herculean effort! I'm still far from goal, but I always walk up the stairs = to the 5th floor even, where I work. I can RUN up the stairs at home. I can run! (well, still a bit floppy!) I go swimming for aerobics x 2 a week. AND - my biggest achievement - I actually rode one of our horses around the farm. This was my lifelong childhood dream - to have a horse, and just ride around any where I wanted to. I did it a couple weeks ago! :-) Life is good! My goal now is to loose 40 pounds before my son's wedding Sept 5th. Say a prayer for me fellow bandsters. I think once I get started and off the sugary carbs, I will do OK now that the weather is warming up and it's easier to get outside.(it was almost 50 today...our snow is almost gone! seriously! There are still spots of snow in ditches and north sides of woods and stuff up here, and we still have frost in the ground in the shady spots. ) We have more work to do, fences to put up, burdocks to cut out (we've done a lot already). Then there will be the garden to plant, and the list goes on. I love Spring, Summer, and Fall! I am trying to log my foods now at work - we;ll see how that goes. I can use paper, but love the internet based programs because I don't have to look up the calories. Hope you all are doing well!

Hi April 08 Bandsters! Just wanted to pop in and say HI! It's my 1 year anniversary, and what a difference a year makes! I've been "off the wagon" since Christmas - just unable to get myself off the carbs and chocolate. I've gained a couple pounds and unhappy that I haven't 'FINISHED' my journey. I've been very tight - PB'ing a LOT, some mornings can't get water down, etc. I think this is part of my problem - I tend to eat the slider junk food because it doesn't get stuck; Veggies, fruit, lunch meat, and other healthier options are more problems for me. I'm seeing my surgeon next week and getting some saline taken out. I'm vowing to loose 40 pounds by my son's wedding Sept 5th. Doggone it, 40 pounds is NOTHING! :-) If I had fast internet, I'd be on here more and that would help. I also stopped doing my internet-based daily food log, which has been disasterous. I'm trying to do it at work - started back today, but it's hard because I'm SO busy at work. I think it's really important though -- It's so easy for me to play games with myself. I feel like I'm going through detox! Remembering a year ago, when an ounce of liquid seemed like a lot and the weight was falling off.... But, even though I haven't kept up loosing, my life is SO good now compared to a year ago. I do water aerobics x2 a week, and we've moved to our farm and have our horses at home. Life is so good and I'm so happy. For those of you being banded soon - hope you have as good an experience as I have, and great results. Stick with it! HOpe everyone is doing well!

Good evening. Just wanted to say, I tried eggs for breakfast (skip the cereal...eat protein.) Ended up eating half the egg, (yes, chewed well) and then throwing them back up while DD drove us to work/school this am! (couldn't be late for my meeting or her school) (Eww...really grossed her out) they did NOT slide down like I thought they would. But tonight, I did really well with some roast chicken. Won't be doing eggs first thing in the morning... Good news though...I feel renewed and back on track for the most part, and even joined a water aeobics class tonight! It was fun, and so far, don't feel sore. Tomorrow may be another story. Came home hungry, and ate some sugar free pudding. Feels great to be getting back in control. And tomorrow will be another great day... Re: water pills. I do think our bodies get used to them, and it takes a while for the kidney's to readjust the fluid balance without them--at least that's what I found. Meanwhile, the blood pressure goes way up....without symptoms, and that is dangerous. Get the pills....:-)

Thank you, one and all, for the kicks! I needed that. You are all correct. I was thinking about that today at work...I just always think to be a good mom, I have to have treats for the family. That's how I was brought up. Perhaps there is a part of me that secretly plans this so I can have them... Meanwhile, my DD is putting on weight too, and we could use a change here. Wouldn't hurt DH either, though he's lost a little weight with all the work he's been doing in the past month (building stuff, all the heavy lifiting). I am a master at rationalizing things...as many of us are! Today was better than yesterday, but I wasn't perfect. I always want to be perfect, and of course, it's hard to be perfect, so then I rationalize being 'bad." I've really slipped into my former lifestyle, and I don't like it at all. You are all 100% correct on the protein bars. They need to go. They aren't helping me. I've begun to depend on them because they are sweet. I used to think it would help me to keep my hair....easy way to get protein, but they are way too many calories. And my hair is still thin! I used to eat lunchmeat...but that always seems to get stuck. While I THINK I actually am hungry...perhaps you're right, I'm not. I will plan my meals right now for tomorrow. I've got a chicken ready to roast for tomorrow's supper. And the treats I made yesterday, I packed up and froze, which helps me avoid them. (Out of sight, out of mind) OK, tomorrow is another day. I have to figure out what I'm going to eat.... I remember once Indio, I think it was you, that said you 'forgot' to eat supper once. I wish I could put food out of my mind, but it's always there calling me. I tell myself - good grief, there is plenty of it, I don't need to worry -- but I have a hard time forgetting out it. OK, no more excuses! YOu're right. I can do this! :-)